In recent months, the senior Marine commander on the West Coast has dismissed charges against three troops implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqis and reduced the sentences of three others in the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man.

A group of San Diego area hospitals are suing the county again. The dispute centers on medical bills run up last year by prisoners of the sheriff's department. The hospitals say the sheriff's department has to pay the bills of detainees who get treatment before they're booked in jail.

San Diego's unemployment rate jumped two tenths of a percent last month. The State Labor Department says the leisure and hospitality industry showed the largest job gains in July. Government and education lost the most jobs.

The ten vignettes begin with modest humor. In the first story, a man jumps from a plane without a chute and ends up planted in the groundbut still alive. He can remain alive but only if he stays in the ground. This prompts people to worship him (don't ask me why, I didn't write it). From here it's pretty much downhill. There are men who want to hang out at home naked; a doctor who likes to "goof" with his patients and leaves a lethal pair of scissors in one woman; and at rock bottom there's Winona Ryder falling in love with a ventriloquist dummy. The sex scenes are painfully unfunny and never find the laughs the way the puppet sex in

San Diego County is waiving adoption fees at animal shelters for the first time, starting Saturday. The county says it's overwhelmed by an influx of pets, especially cats. KPBS reporter Andrew Phelps has details.

The final cleanup of an abandoned lead smelter in Tijuana starts in October. A San Diego group led efforts to get the Mexican government to pay for removing toxic soil. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has more.

Listen to the best musical interludes heard throughout the week on These Days. This week's picks include tracks from Booker T and the Mg's, Lyn Collins, Aretha Franklin, Air, Boards of Canada, Friends of Dean Martinez, and Elvis Presley.

This week, a large toy recall has raised fears about the safety of a variety of products that are being imported from China into the United States. Also, San Diego's chief of land use and economic development has resigned after he continued to lobby to allow the controversial Sunroad high-rise building to remain in violation of FAA safety standards. And, the number of homes sold in San Diego is on the decline as potential buyers hold out for a good deal.